Blue Rain
by Fire and Sand
Summary: After the fight with the Sound Five, everyone returns to Konoha. Everyone but Sasuke. As Naruto wakes in the hospital, he struggles with the consequence of his failure, and the emotions threatening to tear him apart. Slight NaruSasu.


Fire: 666!

Sasuke: You're crazy.

Fire: But think about it!

Naruto: They might not be reading this on the day we uploaded it.

Fire: …

Kisame: This is one of 6 stories we uploadedon the 6th day of the 6th month in the year 2006 at 6:06pm. Fire wrote this oneshot in less than ten minutes for the occasion.

Fire: It only happens once every thousand years!

Sasuke: And we proofread this in half an hour, so tell us what you think in a review when you're finished. It's a new record in proofreading for a Naruto fanfic. The Bleach ones don't take as long.

Fire: Now read! Read! Then tell us what you thought!

Naruto: There will be traces of NaruSasu, so don't blame us if you don't like it.

---------------------------

Disclaimer: If I was up to date on 666Satan, I could have uploaded that today. Gomen nasai, Seishi-sensei! But this is a Naruto fic, and I'm not Masashi-sensei. Naruto belongs to him. I only own lowly Naruto stock, Naruto merchandise, Naruto dvds, Naruto OSTs, and I _still_ leech it off net!

---------------------------

Warning: All Japanese terms are used for artistic purposes. If you need a glossary, go to my user profile and there will be an extensive glossary for your translating needs. If it's not there, send me a PM or an email, and I'll send you the meanings and/or information regarding your question.

---------------------------

Warning: This chapter was inspired by chapter 236 of the manga. That's episode 135 for those of you who watch the anime. It's after the fight at Shuumatsu no Tani and the fight with the Sound Five and everyone's back in Konoha.

---------------------------

**Blue Rain**

**A Fire Project**

**Oneshot**

**H**e was a fool. As soon as he woke, the empty coldness of the white hospital room sank into his bones and froze his muscles, and there was only this thought in his mind. He should have known this would happen.

He thought that Sasuke would be here with him by now. He thought that Sasuke would be there with him. He thought those words could have brought him back. But he was still alone. There was no one in his wardroom.

His hand clutched the cold metal hitai-ate shakily. The deep scratch marked their separation, marking the lies that drove them apart. He was his best friend? Naruto didn't believe it. If he was truly his friend, they wouldn't be so far away from each other. At that moment, Sasuke should be standing at his bedside with that annoying smirk, telling him that he was a fool for hurting himself over a joke.

But this wasn't a joke. Sasuke wasn't standing at his bedside. The pain in his body was real. The bandages wrapped around his head and around his body were real.

Naruto stared at his hands. These calloused hands were useless. These hands reaching to the ceiling couldn't even hold their friendship together. These hands that had tried so hard weren't even powerful enough to help Sasuke. They weren't enough to hold Itachi still for Sasuke.

The cool rain staining his skin still marked him. He still distinctly felt the cool wetness marking his body. The rain washed everything away, their past, their friendship, the trust he once held for Sasuke. The miserable wetness only reminded him of the man who had left. Even though the rain had stopped falling, the clouds still hung around him, muffling his thoughts. The only ones that could come through were thoughts of him.

Did he even care? Did he even think of him as a friend when he couldn't even share his dreams with him? "Sasuke..." Naruto squeezed his eyes against reality. Sasuke didn't trust him. He didn't believe in his strength. Sasuke shouldn't have left. This shouldn't have happened. Sasuke should have trusted him. He should have just asked for help. Because he wasn't alone. Because...

'_I thought you loved me.'_

...they were brothers! This was his family, and already, it was crumbling. Already, his brother was gone. Next, it could be anyone. His crazy, grey-haired uncle. His reliable father. His...

Naruto sank into the hospital bed as his mind returned to thoughts of Sasuke. The dark-haired shinobi was only playing a game. He didn't care that Naruto had to hold together these shards of his broken heart with bleeding hands, holding it together desperately so that he could have some hope.

Sasuke didn't kill him. Was that supposed to be a comforting thought? He had already hurt him. This regret still lingered. Not only did he fail to bring Sasuke back, now he had to tell Sakura-chan. Now, he had to break his promise for the first time.

Even though he knew there would be more chances later, that he would find Sasuke again and he would again have this chance to bring him back, the dark dread weighing his limbs hung constantly, a pendulum marking the time between now and the last time he saw Sasuke. With each passing moment, his hands slipped. With each passing moment, his heart threatened to fall from his chest. With each passing moment, sorrow threatened to leak from his body and drench him in never-ending blue rain.

In those red eyes, he saw the hatred he thought he would never see. "Sasuke..." Did he do something to make him angry? Could he fix this friendship? He had wanted to try. "Why didn't you let me try?"

Naruto's hand rose and smeared his eyes clear of the pools blurring his sight. The feeling was indescribable. He thought he would never feel this again. The overwhelming failure, as if he couldn't change a thing no matter how much he tried. He would never see Sasuke again. He was gone. He was gone forever.

And when forever had come and gone, he would still be alone, standing and looking for Sasuke.

'_I'm not waiting!'_ He wasn't giving up! Uzumaki Naruto didn't know how to give up! As soon as they released him from this place, he would find Sasuke, and he would drag him back, even if he died. He had a lifelong promise to fulfil. He knew what didn't work. He needed to do was break his arms and legs, and carry him back? Next time, he really would break his arms and legs.

Because he knew Sasuke was stubborn...like him...he knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"Sasuke..." He wanted to sleep and forget for a while, even though he knew that name would reside in him beyond forever. Because forever only lasted until the moment he saw him again.

But he wouldn't sleep. He didn't want to sleep. If he allowed himself to sleep, he could forget him, and never remember the expressions of his face, the sound of his voice, the lightless black eyes that spoke of irreversible acts of cruelty. If this pain would only sink deep into his body, it could glue the pieces of his heart together again...because it would be so much easier to be Uzumaki Naruto, the man with the constant encouraging smile, if there wasn't this pain.

So slowly, with the blue rain drenching him, Naruto knelt over the fragments of his heart, meticulously pressing the jigsaws together again. When the door opens again, he wouldn't cry. When the door opens again, he needed to smile. He needed to pretend that he wasn't in pain. Because by then, he would have fixed enough of heart together to hold the belief that he could bring Sasuke back.

**End Oneshot**

---------------------------

Moral of the Story:

Overwhelming problems and overwhelming pain are only overwhelming at the time it happens. Time moves on and time passes. The strength needed to heal from pain doesn't come from the body or the mind. It comes from the heart, and the determination not to let it affect you.

---------------------------

Fire's babbling:

Sasuke: That was horrible!

Naruto: Sasuke… (hugs Sasuke tightly)

Sasuke: Don't touch me!

Naruto: Waah! Sasuke's being mean!

Fire: Sasuke, stop teasing Naruto.

Sasuke: Who's teasing? I don't want Naruto hanging around me! He's worse than a fangirl!

Kisame: How?

Naruto: Ramen! (pulls out several cup ramen)

Sasuke: He eats that disgusting food.

Naruto: Ramen's not disgusting! (opening the cup ramen)

Sasuke: Completely innutritious!

Naruto: (opening the seasoning packets) It's nutritious! (pouring hot water into the cup ramen) It has meat and carbs and—

Sasuke: Where are the vegetables?

Fire: Stop talking about food! You're boring the readers!

Sasuke: No one's reading this anyway.

Fire: Well, if you _are_ reading this, send us a review and tell us what you thought of this oneshot.

Sasuke: I didn't help. This was purely Fire's drivel.

Fire: Sasuke! You're the cowriter! You helped a little!

Sasuke: Yeah, just reminding you what exactly happened.

Naruto: (waiting for the ramen to cook) This takes place right before the scene in chapter 236 when Shikamaru walks into the room and greets me. We see me sulking on the fifth page. This oneshot is supposed to be right before that scene.

Fire: Now send us a review! You have brains and opinions, don't you? Prove that you think by sending your thoughts to us!

Kisame: Fire's repeating—

Fire: I'm not repeating myself!

Kisame: …

Sasuke: We're leaving now.

Fire: (being dragged away by Sasuke and Kisame) Send us a review! I'll definitely reply!

Naruto: Itadakimasu! (eats ramen)

---------------------------


End file.
